Relations between Roman-Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches suffer from inner fight in Vatican

The relations between the Roman-Catholic church and the Russian Orthodox church are suffering from the inner fight in Vatican. The opinion was voiced by archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate external church relations department, who spoke at the press conference "Incidents of catholic proselytism on the Russian territory and the stand of the Russian Orthodox church" on Friday.

"During recent decades /since 1960s/ the Catholic church was headed by people who were building good relations with the Orthodox church," the archpriest pointed out. "Unfortunately, the situation and the policy seem to be changing".

He considers it "strange" that proselyte activities are conducted not among pagan peoples, but among Christians.

"We believe that the Catholic church will find the strength to overcome its weaknesses and to improve its relations with the Russian church. We will not resort to tough competition that the Catholic party is pressing on us as long as possible," Chaplin said.